60 AUSTRALIAN ZOOLOGY, 
on the neck and anterior part of the back are strongly keeled; on 
the hinder part of the body, they are larger, rounder, and thinner 
than in front. The tail-scales are in one row. The colour is a dull 
greyish-brown, with about 40 darker brown transverse bands. In 
very old snakes these rings disappear or become indistinct. The 
tip of the tail is dull orange-yellow. There are many varieties in 
colour, some very pale grey or red, and some quite brick-red, always 
more or less spotted or mottled with a darker colour. The central 
plates in all varieties are clouded with black. The eye is very 
small, the pupil being elliptical and erect ; there are very prominent 
superciliary ridges over the eyes. The short tail is much compressed 
near the tip, and the last 9 or 10 series of scales surrounding it 
become, in old subjects, very rigid and hard ; the last scale of all is 
generally curved, and resembles a poison fang. This is the only 
Australian snake approaching the true viperine venomous snakes, in 
having the fangs perforated and not grooved; they are, however, 
not so movable as those of vipers, but are permanently erect, as in 
the Hiapidw. The whole of the characters of the singular genus, 
acanthophis incline to classifying the reptile in the family Viperide, 
rather than with colubrine snakes, although it is intermediate between 
the two groups in many respects. It seems to be a link between the 
venomous colubrine snakes and the vipers, by its having permanently 
erect fangs, like the former, but channelled perforated fangs, like 
the latter. The extreme point of the fang is solid and sharp, the 
orifice is near it. 
Habits.—It frequents sandy localities, and retires under ground 
from April or May to Sept., according to the temperature of the 
district in south-eastern Australia, but later in the warmer 
latitudes. The Jownsville Bulletin announces the case of a little 
boy bitten so late as the month of June, 1895, at Ravenswood 
Junction. His death ensued just half an hour after being bitten by 
an adder on which he had trod, as it was lying near atree. Itisrather 
sluggish in his movements, and is an indifferent climber, when its 
locomotion is contrasted with the ascending powers of other snakes. 
When disturbed it does not jump, and certainly never springs back- 
wards. It is slow in getting out of the way ; its colour resembling 
the ground is often a cause of its being unnoticed till approached. 
When resting it lies very closely coiled in a circle, with the head on 
about the middle of the body ; in this posture it often sleeps under 
some dwarf-growing or creeping vine. When irritated, it flattens 
the thick part of the body very greatly, and has a pecular action of 
snapping to one side and the other alternately with great quickness, 
when about to strike. From its short, thick, peculiar-coloured 
body, broad head, and malignant eye, the stranger is warned of © 
danger by its physiognomy, which is, indeed, so hideous as only to 
be surpassed by the puff adder of the Cape, to which it seems to bear 
a very close resemblance. Nature has coloured it with such tints as 
best serve it for concealment, and for escaping observation, although 
it may be lying on a garden bed or path. Its hues are not only pro- 
tective, but they enable it to entrap its prey the more readily. From 
